December 10-16, 2024
From Iceland to NYC!
Aníta, Stefnir, Dagur & Bjartey on the Green Monster in Thórsmörk, June 2024
More photos here:
December 10-16: Sunrise – 7:08-7:13 AM / Sunset – 4:28-4:29 PM
Tuesday, December 10
6:20 PM – IcelandAir flight arrives at Newark EWR Airport
Met there and Ubered back to the Penington Friends House, 215 East 15 Street, NY, NY 10003 for dinner!
Staying in the Edith Darlington Room.
Wednesday, December 11
Breakfast at home, then subway (L to the F) up to
the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, the skating rink, then the:
11 AM - 12:30 PM: Radio City Christmas Spectacular
B train up to 81st Street
Met with Marilyn Kushner, curator at the NY Historical museum. Saw the Tiffany glass collection, then Dagur & Bjartey were each U.S. Presidents briefly:
We saw the short film New York Story there, the Holiday trains show, and the Children’s Museum downstairs.
Lunch at Shake Shack!
American Museum of Natural History: Titanosaurus and other dinosaurs and animals!
Saw the sculptures Life Underground by Tom Otterness at the 14th Street & 8th Ave subway stop.
Salmon dinner at the Penington
(AJ rehearsed 7-9 PM)
Thursday, December 12
Breakfast and gifts at home. Thank you for the beautiful lopapeysa–I love it!
and the lovely hestadjásn ornament, which I just put on the tree!
On the R train from Union Square to Whitehall Street-South Ferry, to the Staten Island Ferry…
FOUR Boroughs in ONE day?!? What were we thinking?!?
Great opportunities to practice subway surfing, pole climbing and dancing!
…and by the Statue of Liberty!
Back to Manhattan, then walked to the Charging Bull,…
by Wall Street and Trinity Church, through Zuccotti Park…
and Liberty Park, with the friendliest (hungriest?) squirrel, mistakenly accused of being, “Just a rat!”
“I ain’t no rat! I’m a squirrel!
And a pretty darn cute one, too!”
up to One World Observatory’s view above the city!
Walked through the Oculus…
then took the 1 train up to the Bronx Zoo!
& saw some Holiday Lights.
Took the train back home for a quick pit stop and change before heading to Bushwick, Brooklyn, for
6-8 PM Roller Skating in Bushwick at Xanadu!
Sleepy after a LONG day!
Friday, December 13
Breakfast at Applebee’s at 50th Street and Broadway (opting to not stand in a freezing cold and LONG line outside Ellen’s Stardust Diner).
Walked and jumped past Radio City:
to the FAO Schwartz toy store!
Walked up FIfth Avenue, past St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Atlas, the Nike and Bergdorf Goodman store windows, briefly into the Apple Store, then to
Unlimited Biking – 56 West 56 Street east of 6th Avenue, to rent bikes for the rest of the trip!
Biked through the lower loop of Central Park.
2-3 PM: Lunch at Le Pain Quotidien while AJ quickly biked home & back to get the Summit tickets he forgot–DOH!
Then up to pre- and post-sunset at Summit at One Vanderbilt
Bjartey takes a bite out of the The Big Apple (a term initially coined in reference to horse racing!)
Dagur sees himself in the clouds!
Walked through Grand Central Station, then to
The Morgan Library before heading home, and
a Pizza Party in AJ’s room!
Posto Thin Crust Pizza and Poppi sodas!
Saturday, December 14
Biked up to Lincoln Center over 17th Street and up 8th Avenue to Lincoln Center and the
Met Brandon before the opera–in costume!–and after, with his cousin and family.
Biked the large loop through Central Park (except for the final part around and up the Great Hill)!
NYC!
Biked down through Times Square…
Bjartey sees Times Square at night for the first time.
and back home, for the holiday party at the Penington, with some singing, then perfect timing to be by and under the falling Christmas tree!
Sunday, December 15
Evelyn’s Playground at Union Square, then the the Union Square Holiday market, then biked up 8th Avenue along Central Park West…
Among my many favorite moments are Bjartey singing Icelandic songs while biking throughout the city.
And then she sang Wham’s Last Christmas, in excellent English. Priceless!
1-2 PM Private musical tour of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (the largest cathedral in the world!) with Dan Ficarri, organist and composer there.
Thank you, Sarah, for the delicious snacks that we enjoyed both at home and high above the city, for the classy and classic NYC stickers, and for these priceless photos, most especially the one directed by Dagur.
Lunch at the Italian restaurant, Tartina, 1034 Amsterdam Avenue at W 111 St., right across from the cathedral.
Biked down through Central Park, then west to the U.S.S. Intrepid,
then down along the Hudson River to Little Island, and through Greenwich Village where we saw the 200th dog of the day!
Aníta captured this of the reluctant, anxious, 200th pup, out of I believe 205 total dogs spotted on our bike Odyssey from downtown, up to the cathedral, and back!
The kids started this morning to count all the dogs they saw and here you can see dog nm. 200, who was afraid of everything, including photo shoots!
then through Greenwich Village to Halloween Adventure…
Fruit and desserts from Wegmans!
Monday, December 16
“It’s not bad out, if you’re in a good mood.” Holly, fellow Peningtonian, remarking on the rainy day.
Breakfast at home, then biked up to return the bikes to 56 West 56 Street. Then walked to Central Park for
Ice skating at Wollman Rink!
Bagels, ham and cheese! Then took the subway back home to get luggage, then up to Port Authority, for the Bus to Stewart Airport, departed 41st Street between 8th Ave. and 9th Ave. by the mural with the family of hvalur storr!
Till next time!
Back home to Iceland and the loving snow camels!
NYC adventures, some of which we didn’t do this time, but maybe on your next trip!
Friends:
Dinner with Duane Michals?
Downtown:
Lunch at Eataly
Mercer Labs experience near Oculus
Start Bike rental downtown – Unlimited Biking – 79 Chambers Street by City Hall
Brooklyn:
Bike over Brooklyn Bridge, through DUMBO–Manhattan Bridge view–then along Pebble Beach, Jane’s Carousel, through Brooklyn Bridge Park, down along the water.
Perhaps lunch at Brado Thin Crust Pizza, then through Brooklyn Heights and back the Brooklyn Bridge)
Bike up through Chinatown, Little Italy, then up Lafayette Street & 4th Ave. to the Penington,
Union Square:
the Union Square Holiday market, and Halloween Adventure…
Chelsea:
Bike around the west side along the Hudson River to
Little Island, the High Line, Chelsea Market & Gingerbread Lane
The Edge at Hudson Yards
Midtown:
Bryant Park Winter Village, Holiday Market, and Ice Skating!
or at Ellen’s Stardust Diner at Broadway & 51st Street: Menus
Lego store,…
Grand Central Station’s Holiday Train Show
Roosevelt Island:
Bike or take the Air tram to Roosevelt Island
Uptown East:
Central Park Zoo, Central Park bike ride; Wollman Rink ice skating
Uptown West:
Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Additional restaurant options near the Italian restaurant, Tartina, 1034 Amsterdam Avenue at W 111 St.: Marlow Bistro or Le Monde.
Queens and Long Island City:
Most diverse restaurants in the world, more languages spoken in this borough than any other area in the world
Museum of the Moving Image
The Bronx:
NY Botanical Garden and Holiday Train show
More for me, a list of places to go horseback riding in NYC:
https://www.6sqft.com/where-to-go-horseback-riding-in-nyc/